News Updates (July 16, 2009)

SharePoint 2010 ... Details on SharePoint 2010 from Microsoft:
- SharePoint 2010 is less about the technology capabilities and more about business applications.
- there is an invitation-only technical preview on offer.
- SharePoint 2010 gets the Office 2007 ribbon interface.
- It's 64-bit only.
- Live integration with Visio 2010 is being added.
- SharePoint Workspace (previously Groove) deals with more than just document library sync.
- SharePoint Solutions (a Microsoft business partner) is asking for input on what people want out of SharePoint 2010.

Windows Mobile 6.5 ... Windows Mobile 6.5 includes a number of new features that are already on the iPhone and Palm Pre. "The new features include improved touch capabilities, including gestures such as tapping, tapping and holding, panning, and flicking in order to navigate through the Mobile interface – a direct response to the touchscreen capabilities of the iPhone and Palm Pre. In addition, Mobile’s Start screen offers access to customizable widgets, as well as fast access to email, and phone and instant messages. The screen itself has been divided into a honeycomb configuration for easier finger manipulation. " More

Google Calendar ... Google removed the "beta" tag from Google Calendar, and added new capabilities. "The standard new features for Google Calendar are the capability to install a background image (to prettify your calendar); attach Google documents to meeting invitations; a world clock for simplified planning; a jump-to-date feature to rocket you to future appointments; next meeting to inform you how much of your coffee break is left; and free or busy to block off schedulable time. These features are located under the labs tab on the settings menu. Some people may not have access to these yet; per usual, Google has a gradual roll-out. Most exciting about the announcement is the release of an experimental API for developers to create their own Calendar features. Placed in the hands of the savvy, this API might allow business customers to transform Google Calendar to mimic -- or outperform -- suites like Microsoft Outlook and Exchange." More

Traction User Group Conference 2009 ... Traction Software's User Group Conference 2009 is happening October 13-16, 2009. "The Fourth annual Traction User Group meeting and Training Conference is a unique opportunity to see what's new and planned for Traction TeamPage, talk in person with the Traction team, give your own feedback on Traction's products and direction, and learn from peers and their experiences. There's no better opportunity to get up to speed on real, in-depth, Enterprise 2.0 case studies presented by Traction customers. This is a once a year opportunity to meet face-to-face and learn from the first hand experiences of other customers who've deployed Traction TeamPage for communities of practice, project teams, knowledge bases, competitive intelligence, global R&D, customer extranets, department intranets and other uses." More

Other Items
- Teambox, a new project management and collaborative web application.
- David Coleman has released a new book: 42 Rules for Successful Collaboration.
- 7 steps to exception communication in a virtual team.
- Microsoft unveiled pricing for Azure, its cloud computing platform.